Swearing In! May 10th

Swearing in!

May 10^th, 2013

I woke up to the vibration of my phone alarm, 5am. Breakfast was quiet, due to the volunteers still being asleep or solemn as the realization that it was our last day as trainees, enjoying the amenities of the Peace Corps Training Center set in.

We had sent our luggage ahead, and the 37 trainees pilled into a bus to become volunteers. We practiced the Malagasy song we would be performing during the swearing in ceremony, as we drove the 3 hours to Tana, the capital city.

At an US Embassy official’s extravagant house and yard we listened to a few short speeches, one by a fellow volunteer, in Malagasy, and took the oath to become official Peace Corps volunteers. It was quite a short event for the build up of the last year and a half (i.e. lengthy application process and 2 months of training) but I met the president of the NGO I would be working closely with at my site. The realization that my Peace Corps experience was only beginning was starting to set in. After a reception we said goodbye to our ever patient and helpful language instructors, who’s last “lesson” was to help us buy a majority of our supplies (ie. gas stove, blankets, plastic buckets, and food) in the bustling-and overwhelming-city of Tana. We couldn’t help but be in awe of the amenities available at our fingertips, and welcomed a thai food and hookah restaurant outing.

Up at 6am to voices of other volunteers already awake & realized this would be the last morning their voices would permeate my subconscious in the moments before I awoke. My roommate and I started packing our backpacks with surprising energy for only getting 5 hours of sleep. Peace Corps cars greeted us as we brought bags down to the concrete lobby. I teared up as Briana, my roomate throughout training, left. We hugged and said our goodbyes but knew we would see each other soon because both of our sites are in the south eastern region of the country. It was surreal leaving the capital city, knowing it was the end of a chapter-pre-service training-but the start of a much larger one-my Peace Corps service.

The crowded city began to thin and countryside began to fill in the spaces between the houses. Two volunteers living in my region and I  napped off and on until we unexpectedly met another car of volunteers! We learned that our PC ceremony the day prior made it into 2 local newspapers. As we continued on the road I tried to sleep but I was too excited, nervous or excited for what lay ahead these next few days. I watched the landscape roll by, it gradually changed from terraced rice fields to brown grass and rocky hills that reminded me of Colorado’s landscape. Then rolling hills and bamboo layered on itself intermingled with bananas as we entered the rainforest and Ranomafauna, where we met 2 PCVs and stayed the night.

We took a dip in the natural hot springs the next morning, the rainforest mountain backdrop with low hanging clouds was just beyond the river we crossed to get to the pool area. The smell of sulphur reminded me of hot springs in Idaho: rustic and rural. Continuing on the road we passed through clouds of locust, these insects have crippled many rice crops in throughout Madagascar. At one point, I recall looking into a valley and seeing what I thought were clouds of smoke but were actually the swarm of insects.

Only six more hours to what would be my banking town, we stopped to meet several volunteers living in the region, who welcomed us with cards and signs for each of us. We finally arrived in Farafangana and met our “zokys” meaning “older siblings” but is what more experienced volunteers are referred to as. At the first sight of the ocean, the three of us had our faces pressed against the windows. Palm trees lined the dirt road that took us to the volunteers’ house who lives here. We were treated to drinks, pizza, and some second hand blazers, hand picked for us by the volunteers. Our nighttime bonfire was a great way to start my familiarization with the area.

I wrote a brief speech, filled with thank you’s and expressing my happiness and hopes of becoming family with the village. My excitement built as we stopped at my counterparts “camp” an office with a large grassy field and some cement buildings and then continued onto my town. Pulling off to the side of the road we walked down a small slope and my two bedroom house appeared, the town was expecting us that day, and many people gathered as I greeted the important people of the town and gave my speech with many “ums”. We started moving things into the house, and the items the previous volunteer left for me appeared carried by men, women and children. As most large items made it inside, the men gathered outside and presented us with a traditional drink and soda, with folded banana leaf cups, and toasted with us to my arrival.

This warm welcome left me elated, stressed and comforted all at the same time. I tried to keep the thought that I was only hours from being completely on my own at bay. Me, my 2 fellow stage mates and my installers went to the neighboring town for lunch and in this time the roof and floor of my pit toilet was repaired. A volunteer in this town was kind enough to give me one of her cat’s 2 month old kittens, to address the rat issue I had been warned of earlier. The thought ran through my mind “I’m being dropped off, alone in rural Madagascar with no electricity or running water, and not only am I suppose to somehow take care of myself, but now a kitten!?” I was comforted though at the fact that I had a friend and companion from the start.

Returning to my new site, my installers arranged for me to eat with my neighbors for the next few days, because there had been no gas tanks (and therefore no gas to cook with) in the entire town of Farafangana. After the checklist of safety and security questions and measures was complete, my installation was complete and I hugged my companions and waved goodbye. I stood inside my house as dusk set in, simply exchanging stares with the 10+ kids who stood in my doorway. With all my possessions in boxes or bags on the floor in heaps I didn’t quite know what to do with myself, but Uno, the card game came to my rescue. I explained the game by candlelight, and the kids caught on quickly. I was thrilled with how friendly they were.  After at least an hour of the game I was invited to dinner at my neighbors, and I tried to speak as much as possible, however awkward silences were inevitable. Back at home, I unrolled my sleeping bag on my foam mattress, said goodnight to my cat, whose bed I constructed in a cardboard box cushioned with clothes and went to sleep. The first day of my 2 year service!